NHL Playoffs Could be a Power Play for Canada’s Economy

Having hometown teams in the National Hockey League playoffs might prove to be the kind of power play Canada’s faltering economy needs.

“[The] anticipated increased spending on travel, restaurants and bars will be a nice boost for several metro area economies,” Moody’s Analytics, the economic analysis arm of bond rating firm Moody’s Investor Services, said in a recent report.

Having five teams, as Canada did in the middle of last week, would be even better, but “c’est la vie,” as fans of the Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets are having to concede after each team was eliminated in the first round.

Before those teams were out, Moody’s was estimating the boost to consumer spending from the NHL playoffs could amount to 100 million Canadian dollars ($82.2 million) or more. But reaching that level now depends on a Canadian team making it to the finals, said Alexander Lowy, an economist with Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames are the only two still in contention.